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    HomeNewsParliament pushes for registration of stateless migrants

    Parliament pushes for registration of stateless migrants

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    Harare (New Ziana)- The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs, Defence, Security and War Veterans on Monday recommended that investigations be carried out to ascertain the number of migrants who are undocumented and stateless despite being born in Zimbabwe.

    Speaking after hearing evidence from Amnesty International on statelessness in Zimbabwe, Committee chairperson Beitbridge East legislator Albert Nguluvhe said it was disturbing that there were
    probably hundreds of thousands of unregistered migrants, adding there was need for the committee to go out and hear the victims’ ordeal in a bid to push authorities to grant them citizenship.

    “Maybe there might be a need for the committee to go to those specific areas, which you mentioned so that they hear for themselves and add some of the things as to the reason why.

    “The problem is that no one can tell us the exact number. These are estimates. But I think, for us as a committee, there’s a need for us to now go out on our own. And then we can present the report and maybe push the Ministry to align the laws.

    “We want this issue to be resolved so that as Zimbabwe we have no one staying in this country but being stateless,” he said.

    Proportional Representation MP Thokozane Khupe concurred, saying it was sad, particularly for children who want to go to school, but cannot due to lack of identity documents.

    “And I think Government should do something. Can there be a waiver or something? Because they must be considered, particularly for children who want to go to school. I think something has to be done. A waiver or some sort of consideration so that they can be given that birth certificate,” she said.

    Amnesty International executive director Lucia Masuka told the Committee that an inquiry into the issue would be the best way forward.

    “There is need for an inquiry so that at least Government has actual numbers,” she said.

    According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, about 300 000 people in Zimbabwe are undocumented.

    “These people are really there in mining and farming communities. We commend the government for taking steps to solve statelessness but there’s need to expedite the amendment of the Citizen Act,” she said.

    According to Masuka, many children are not going beyond the primary level due to the absence of documentation.

    Giving oral evidence to the same committee early this month, in its report “We Are Like Stray Animals” released in 2021, Amnesty International urged the government to align the Citizenship Act and the Birth and Death Registration Act to the Constitution to accommodate the affected people.

    The report noted that Zimbabwe’s nationality laws have left generations of migrant workers and their families marginalized in the one country they have ever called home and urged the state to amend legislation.

    New Ziana

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